1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to apparatus for positioning a plurality of information-containing photographic units in cooperative apparatus intended for utilizing or processing the information. More particularly, the invention relates to apparatus for positioning film units relative to functional elements of a photographic printer.
2. Description Relative to the Prior Art
The invention has particular utility when it is applied to the positioning of disk-shaped film units in a photographic printer. Printers for handling conventional strip film formats are generally adapted to position negatives either singly or in strips in a printing gate aperture. For example, with the commercially available Eastman Kodak 5S printer, the operator typically inserts a negative, or a film strip, into a negative holder in the gate for printing. This step is initiated by depressing a foot treadle. The upper half of the negative holder is connected to a movable yoke that is controlled by the treadle. The yoke rises allowing access to the interior of the negative holder. The operator places a negative, or a strip of negatives, between guides in the holder. A detent precisely locates the perforated edge of the strip, or negative, relative to the printing gate aperture. Then the upper half of the negative holder is lowered into place. The operator examines the negative frame, now held in the printing gate aperture, and enters color and/or density correction for the frame via keyboard, and printing is initiated.
Another version of film strip handling is used in the commercially available Eastman Kodak 2620 and 2610 printers. In both printers, separate strips of given size negatives are spliced together to form spliced rolls. The roll is mounted on the machine, together with a take up reel, and each negative is automatically, and intermittently, advanced along a negative track through a printing station. As single negatives are being printed, the strip of spliced negatives is wound upon the take up reel. Such a mode of handling the film strips provides increased efficiency in the printing operation since individual operator handling for each negative or strip is eliminated.
Strip handling apparatus is not satisfactory in certain printing situations. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,292,485 a printer is disclosed that is capable of handling at least two different sizes of negatives. Since the various size negatives can neither be spliced into rolls nor handled by a single size negative holder, this printer disposes the negatives around the rotational axis of a rotary negative holder. The rotary holder has several apertures for receiving different sized negatives. By rotating the holder, each negative is sequentially positioned in the printing gate for printing. A similar approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,321. There separate microfiche negatives are held on a pair of platens mounted on a rotatable carrier. By positioning the carrier adjacent to the printing gate of a microfiche duplicator, one platen--and its microfiche--is in the duplicator gate while the other platen is disposed for loading or unloading of microfiche.
Applying a similar concept, U.S. Pat. No. 1,794,279 discloses a rotary negative holder for positioning several frames on a single sheet of film adjacent to the printing objective of a printer. Eight images of an identical scene are spaced about the geometric center of a square film sheet. The sheet is mounted on a rotary support for rotation about an axis that coincides with the geometric center of the sheet. Therefore, by rotating the support, each image is sequentially registered adjacent to the printing objective.
In positioning a disk-shaped film unit having a plurality of image frames, the apparatus described above do not satisfactorily provide the productivity necessary for economical and efficient printing. Imitating strip film by joining the units together in any manner, if possible at all, would obviously be cumbersome. One would expect that the film units can best be handled individually. FIGS. 1 and 2 pertain to apparatus based on known principles for selectively positioning individual frames of a rotatable disk-shaped film unit relative to a printer gate aperture. Specifically, a spring-like lever 10 is attached to a gear 12. A gear 14 (meshed with the gear 12) is attached to a spindle 16 upon which the film unit 18, by means of a suitable keying arrangement, is removably assembled. A stationary index positon plate 20 has a plurality of notches or recesses 22 (corresponding in number to the number of frames on the film unit) to accommodate the lever 10 biased against the underside of the plate 20. By depressing the lever 10 and moving it to the desired frame number notch, the film unit rotates and places the corresponding frame in a printer gate aperture 24 (shown in phantom).
FIGS. 1 and 2 represent a low speed approach to printing from a disk-shaped film unit. Each image is manually advanced into the printer gate aperture. Furthermore, once an image is adjacent the printer gate, it is manually classified as to scene type before printing may begin. Therefore, and particularly since printing is often the bottleneck with regard to photofinishing efficiency, whether printing from individual negatives or spliced rolls of strip film, the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1 is likely to be satisfactory only for small photofinishing operations.